While discussing the release of a report on Denver crime statistics during the February 16 broadcast of The Peter Boyles Show on 630 KHOW-AM, Rocky Mountain News sportswriter Dave Krieger stated that some Denver residents view graffiti as “a precursor to gang activity.” Despite acknowledging the link between graffiti and gangs, Krieger misleadingly claimed that “there just does not seem to be any recognition on the part of [Denver] city hall” that gang activity is “an escalating problem.”

However, neither Krieger nor host Peter Boyles mentioned Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper's anti-graffiti initiatives launched as part of a broader crime-fighting program, including the implementation of graffiti prevention programs and the hosting of a “graffiti summit” in 2006.

Boyles and Krieger -- who has written several columns related to gang violence since the New Year's Day shooting death of the Denver Broncos' Darrent Williams -- were discussing the recent release of a report showing that “Denver crime dropped 10 percent last year, reversing years of increases while other U.S. cities saw an increase in violent crime,” according to a February 14 News article. The News further reported:

All but one of the city's 10 most crime-plagued neighborhoods reduced their 2006 crime rate.

Mayor John Hickenlooper attributed the drop to many factors, including new police tactics adopted in late 2005 and the addition of $30 million to the police department's annual budget.

Hickenlooper specifically has addressed the problem of graffiti and its connection to gang violence. For example, a March 27, 2006, Denver Post article (accessed through the Nexis database) reported that “Hickenlooper hired Hanover Justice Group, a consultant team that believes in the broken-windows approach, and the consultants are helping find ways to improve the Denver Police Department.” The article noted, “The Hanover team is led by criminologist George Kelling, who helped bring the broken-windows theory to prominence in 1982” and stated it “includes [Michael] Wagers, who helped put broken-windows policing in neighborhoods in south-central Los Angeles.” The Post described the theory behind the “broken-windows approach” as “aggression pays. By attacking small crimes such as graffiti, trashy conditions and traffic violations, police plan to help residents drive out crime and take back their neighborhood.”

The Post reported that one of its reporters “rode with police for two nights” through Denver neighborhoods “to see how broken-windows policing works”:

It means traffic stops for tinted windshields. It means a teen can be arrested for carrying a black magic marker in a vehicle's glove compartment and charged with carrying graffiti contraband. (The marker is considered contraband for teens in this area because it's used by tagging crews that mar the neighborhood.)

[...]

A sting operation recently nabbed a tagging crew spray-painting graffiti throughout [the] Westwood [neighborhood]. Those arrested included one notorious tagger in the area who went by the moniker Doom.

A July 12, 2006, article (accessed through the Nexis database) in the News reported Hickenlooper “can cite a wealth of civic victories today” in his third State of the City address, noting, “He's helped reverse a trend of rising crime and falling arrest rates by hiring more police officers and bringing in respected criminologist George Kelling to sharpen the police department's crime-fighting strategies. Just two months after the department began using computer-generated data to target criminal hot spots and 'Broken Windows policing' to combat graffiti and other social disorder, the Westwood neighborhood experienced a dramatic 25 percent drop in crime.”

In October 2006, Hickenlooper hosted a summit meeting that specifically addressed the problem of graffiti in Denver. According to an October 18, 2006, press release from the mayor's office:

“Graffiti was one of the top concerns raised by residents attending our Partnership Denver: Neighbors Building Solutions listening sessions earlier this year,” Hickenlooper said. “We believe a comprehensive strategic approach -- based on proven best practices and community collaboration -- is the key to successfully addressing this costly public nuisance and safety concern. We are excited about the opportunities this summit represents to make a substantive difference in tackling this longstanding community issue.”

Similarly, an October 18, 2006, News article (an online version appeared October 17) about the graffiti summit reported, “Mayor John Hickenlooper, who has called the city's graffiti problem an epidemic, is appointing a new Graffiti Task Force to develop strategies in three key areas: abatement, enforcement and prevention." The News also reported, “In addition to the summit, the mayor is proposing in his 2007 budget another two-person graffiti-removal crew to join the 10 workers already employed full time on the cleanup."

Finally, a February 14 Denver Daily News article further contradicts Krieger's implication that Hickenlooper is not dealing with gang issues, pointing specifically to the anti-graffiti program as an element of the mayor's strategy:

Hickenlooper suggested that the Denver Police Department continue to reach out to Denver's communities and work with kids before they start graffiti tagging, an inevitable first-step towards gang membership.

“I think they are continuing to evolve in terms of how they address gang violence,” Hickenlooper said of the Denver Police Department. He added that more and more officers are on the streets in Denver working with kids and the community as a whole.

From the February 16 broadcast of 630 KHOW-AM's The Peter Boyles Show:

KRIEGER: And Michael Hancock, the city councilman, basically admitted, “You know what, in my district, things aren't lookin' so good.” And so the rosy picture that they were trying to paint through the annual crime stats, which, let's face it, they go up and down, they go up and down, you know, every year that they come down it's a huge news story as far as the people putting them out. When they go up, it doesn't matter at all because these are just minor short-term fluctuations. So they were trying to paint a very rosy picture of it and I think, by the end, at least they had been forced to talk about this issue, although certainly the mayor had not acknowledged that there was a major problem there.

BOYLES: So, did you talk directly to him?

KRIEGER: Not one-on-one, no. I mean, I was there when he was at the podium. There was not much to ask him, because he's not, you know, taken the lead on this, and he's not indicated any passion for the subject or any particular interest in the subject. So the only question I have for him is the same question I keep asking, which is, why aren't you more interested? Why doesn't this -- why aren't you engaged on this? And when you ask him that, which I have, in phone conversations, you know, he'll say that he is. He'll say that, you know, he's interested and he's got all these long-term sort of plans. And there are some good programs, there's no doubt about that, in the city budget. Long-term sort of things having to do with an endowment for college education for Denver Public School students and coordinating social agencies and so forth. But in terms of dealing with the problem right in front of you, in terms of dealing with what a lot of people in certain Denver neighborhoods all over town: southwest, west, northeast -- what they view as a clear escalation of gang activity, and of graffiti, which they view as a precursor to gang activity, there just does not seem to be any recognition on the part of city hall that this is a -- an escalating problem; quite the opposite. Their claim through the crime statistics is that crime in general is a de-escalating problem.

BOYLES: Yeah. Well, again, if you look at variable of gangs, and you and I have talked about this, it's a skyrocket.

KRIEGER: Yeah.

BOYLES: Well, as we have said many times, many ways, Merry Christmas.